DAKAR, Senegal – With the Youth Olympic Games beginning in the Senegalese capital of Dakar on Saturday, an Olympic event will be held on the African continent for the first time, and two U.S. archers will be a part of the historic occasion.
Running from October 31 through November 13, around 2,700 athletes will represent over 200 delegations, including a Refugee Olympic Team made up of athletes based in Africa.
There will be 29 athletes making up the USA team, set to compete in 12 sports. Among them are 16-year-old recurve archers Aarya Arun from Virginia and Ye-eun ‘Grace’ Whang of California. The two secured their spot in Senegal with individual success at the WIAWIS JOAD Target Nationals in Lincoln, Neb. in July.
Whang has previous international experience, and success. She was part of the recurve U18 mixed team to win silver at the 2025 World Archery Youth Championships in Canada, alongside Jackson Miller.
“I’m feeling really excited because it's the Youth Olympics and I'm also really nervous,” admitted Whang. “I'm glad that it's somewhere that I've never traveled to, so it'll be a good experience and I’m hoping to possibly podium.”
Arun shattered the recurve U18 men’s world record for a double 60 meters round (2x72 arrows) by a staggering 22 points at JOAD Target Nationals.
On whether setting a new record placed any additional pressure on him, Arun said, “It makes me feel more excited, like all these people have expectations and I want to make sure I reach them. I want to shoot as best as I can and then hopefully get higher scores than I've been getting previously so I can keep beating myself.”
An impressive 89 athletes who have competed at the Youth Olympic Games have since gone on to represent the United States at either the Summer or Winter Olympic Games, and both Arun and Whang suggested they would like to follow suit in 2028, though Arun added, “I just want to have fun, honestly. This was my goal for many years so I'm just happy to achieve it and wish to have fun.”
His teammate in West Africa, Whang, commented, “I would like to podium at the Youth Olympics but if that doesn't happen it's still going to be a great experience.”
This will be just the fourth edition of the Youth Olympic Games, and follows on from Singapore (2010), Nanjing, China (2014) and Buenos Aires, Argentina (2018). It was at the 2018 edition that the USA claimed its one and only medal in archery when Trenton Cowles took gold (pictured).
Cowles was ranked 15th after qualification but took out the second seed Tang Chih-Chun (TPE) in the 1/8 round, sixth seed Artem Ovchynnikov (UKR) in the semifinals, before defeating number five seed Akash (IND) in the gold medal match. He only dropped one set point in his five elimination matches.
The archery event involves 64 athletes (32 men, 32 women) from 39 nations. Competition begins with qualification on November 6, with medal matches running from the 8-10, taking place at the Abdoulaye Wade Stadium, home of the Senegalese national soccer team and right next door to Amadou Mahtar Mbow University, the location for the Youth Olympic Village.
Coverage in the USA of the 2026 Youth Olympic Games can be found via Peacock or Olympics.com and the Olympic Channel.
< Back to All News
